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CLR
1

CLR 1

First of all, this is not an enquiry for the Granny Visa, its for a simple visitors visa.

My mom and myself are travelling from SA to visit my daughter in Ottawa in August (We already have the plane tickets). We also are planning a trip in December, but it's not been confirmed. I first want to see how my Mom handles the 30 + hour flight before booking flights for December.

Am I correct in my understand that a visitor visa is valid for 6 months?

For Schengen's I know you have the option of selecting multiple entry during the time the visa is valid. Is that also the case with Canada?

Will we have a problem with selecting a multiple entry visa but only have flight tickets that arrive and leave in August, but no plane tickets for December proving we are going to leave again?

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Eric N
29

Eric N 29

I understand that you still have to apply for the visitor visa,Canada embassies don't give u the option to choose single or multiple entries.

But the good news is that,most people get multiple entries and long term visas,depending on the purpose of their visit.Especially if u are visiting family:My first canadian visa was a 20 months visa/multiple entries and when it expired I reapplied and get a 5 years visas.Each time for visiting family.

Am I correct in my understand that a visitor visa is valid for 6 months?

Hi @CLR, it usually works like this: if you apply for a Canadian visitor's visa they give you a multiple entry visa that is valid until your passport expires. However, even if your visa is valid for this whole period you are usually only allowed to be present in the country for 6 months at a time. As far as I understand custom officials can give you less than 6 months as well, but the default is 6 months. This means that you could technically stay for 6 months and then cross the border to the USA and enter Canada again to "restart" these 6 months, but if there is a record of this happening your situation might be scrutinized as it would look like you're living in Canada instead of just visiting.

9 hours ago, CLR said:

Will we have a problem with selecting a multiple entry visa but only have flight tickets that arrive and leave in August, but no plane tickets for December proving we are going to leave again?

If I understand your situation correctly, you do not have to mention your December trip at all. You would just apply for a normal visitor's visa using your flight tickets for August as proof. You should be granted a multiple entry visa that you can just use for travelling in December again, it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure that your passport with this visa in does not expire before December (or soon after).

Before receiving our PR status, we visited Canada twice. The first time we got single entry visas that were valid for 6 months only. The second time we got multiple entry visas that were valid for 10 years (but still with the limit of staying for 6 months at a time) and this was for new passports that were still valid for 10 years. Since then everyone I know of (including my brother) received multiple entry visas valid for the same period that your passport is valid for, even for first-time visitors, so I think they changed this to give everyone these types of visas. There might be other rules or conditions that they apply that I'm not aware of, this has just been my experience.